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Aunt Norie’s Sewing Room

By Eleanor Mckee - | Dec 1, 2010

I like to think I always give, (or gave) a child’s mind the first place, the open door. One will find many surprises if you let the child take the lead, so to speak, when helping them with any task, journey, assignment or whatever.

So when my great-granddaughter, Maria Taylor, asked me to help her with her surprise Christmas gifts, we had such fun. Because it is a surprise all I can tell you is that it all involves sewing. I listened closely as she tells me what and how, then we begin going through all of grandma Ellie’s stash of, we’ll just say goodies, to select from. Her excited: “Oh, look grandma, do you even mean this?” with my “Yes, of course.”

There’s too many secrets to go any further there. But what this column is all about is what came out of that busy, brilliant little mind as I listened and let her take her lead. She began threading her needle, just pulled the thread through the eye of the needle, then got so intense and involved as I watched. She tied a knot just behind the eye of the needle, then placed the two pieces of cloth to be sewn together, ran two stitches onto the needle. To my surprise, the needle thread, knots and all, followed. I’m sitting there dumbfounded. Believe me, that’s not supposed to happen.

However, when she gets to the other end with no knot, she sees it’s not going to work — it’s going to pull right on out. So she looks up. “Now what do I do here, how do I fix this, grandma?” I said: “Oh, we just tie a knot, you can do it like this.” I showed her how to roll the thread off over your finger.

Then we discussed her knot, and how she came up with it. I told her how I think she may have created and invented a whole new one, so easy to handle. Never worry about your needle coming unthreaded as you sew.

Maria is only 10 years old and loves to read, comprehends and understands way on beyond that level.

Now back to her unique little knot. Select a needle with an eye a bit larger than your thread. Now stand that needle in a pin cushion. With both hands free, just tie a simple square knot, let a short end fly, right there where it comes through the eye of the needle.

Never underestimate the mind of a child. Love ’em all.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. There’s just no end when we really count our blessings. God Love you all.

— Aunt Norie, P.O. Box 265, Tonganoxie 66086; auntnoie@att.net